Tuesday, July 12 2005 17:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: An Assistant Inspector of Police (AIP) in Mumbai has been arrested on the charge of destroying evidence to save a former Provogue employee caught in a drug racket case.

API Shantilal Jadhav, who was arrested yesterday night (July 11, 2005), has been charged with abetment, destruction of evidence and cheating for his alleged role in the case, police said today (July 12, 2005).

A local court sent him to police custody till July 26In the same case earlier, police arrested two Tanzanian nationals for supplying drugs to former Provogue employee Alex Sequeira.

Saeed Hashim alias Sako and Abdul Lucama alias David were arrested after Sequeira named them during interrogation.

Jadhav is alleged to have directed policemen from the Airport Police Station to replace cocaine vials seized from Sequiera with ordinary boric powder, police said.

The API, who was then posted as an assistant to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Administration), had allegedly accepted bribe to destroy evidence, police said.

Earlier, API Sanjay Shinde of Airport police station was arrested in the case on July two and booked under Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (Prevention) Act, and also charged with conspiracy, cheating and destruction of evidence.

Sequeira was arrested on January 26 when he had booked a courier on air mail for Chennai, which was found containing cocaine vials, police said adding, Sequeira subsequently named Vishal Meghnani, manager of the Phoenix Mill-based Provogue Lounge, as one of the persons responsible for the consignment.

Police have also questioned Provogue owner Salil Chaturvedi in this case and they suspect that some bigwigs from fashion and film industry are involved.